Meet Deborah Lindsey: EFT Master Trainer & Pioneer in Online EFT Certification
When you’re considering an EFT certification program, it’s important to know who your instructor is. I’m Deborah Lindsey, EFT Master Trainer, speaker, and founder of the Center for EFT Studies. My journey into EFT began not as a teacher, but as a person struggling with anxiety and searching desperately for answers.
I grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and witnessed firsthand my mother’s lifelong battle with severe anxiety. Later, while running a music business in Washington, DC, I developed the same debilitating anxiety myself. Some days, I could hardly leave the house.
I was desperate to find a solution, so I tried everything I could find (and afford). Despite trying various methods, nothing seemed to work until I discovered EFT during a free alternative healthcare clinic in West Virginia.
This amazing man named Ken walked me through the technique. To be fair, I thought he was nuts! How was this strange tapping technique going to help me with my anxiety?! I even rolled my eyes at him!
But I couldn't deny that it had worked. My shaking stopped. And an internal calm set in that I had not felt in years. I was hooked!
Once I discovered something that worked, I was like a dog with a bone, and I went all in on learning everything I could about
EFT Tapping.I threw myself into training, earning certification directly from EFT pioneers Gary Craig and Patricia Carrington. Soon, I was practicing EFT full-time in my own wellness center, combining EFT with other healing modalities. For twelve years, I worked one-on-one with clients daily, honing my craft and ultimately developing new, advanced EFT techniques.
Basically, if I wasn't getting results, I had to figure it out. I would lay awake at night going over clients in my mind until I would find a solution. It's how I came to develop so many of my own techniques. The good news is that I know they work because I used them myself, over and over, until I knew they were good.
By 2001, I was training and certifying students under Gary Craig’s standards. I always knew teaching was my calling, and I loved every minute of teaching. So for nearly a decade, I taught live EFT workshops, constantly refining both my methods and my materials.
Those refined materials eventually became the basis of the Premier
Online EFT Certification training that I teach today.
In 2008, I took on the arduous task, along with an incredible team of professionals, of creating the International Metaphysical University (where I served as President until resigning in 2016).
Online training was in its infancy. The tools needed to create online courses were far and few between. But we prevailed to create a fully-functional online university dedicated to teaching students about metaphysical topics, along with an entire program in energy healing.
As part of that project, I created the first online EFT Certification program in the world. To be honest, we were skeptical that it could even be done!
What we found, to our surprise, was that the online EFT training was infinitely superior to the live workshops! The online platform gave me the opportunity to teach students everything they needed to know (without rushing). More importantly, it gave students the time to really embody a professional EFT skillset, and they had access to me throughout. And it was now available to students around the world!
By 2013, I was teaching EFT exclusively online, reaching students across the globe, and living my dream of working online, from anywhere! I was free!
Originally, the training was just called "Online EFT Certification", which remains our doman to this day. In 2016, I officially created the Center for EFT Studies, dedicated to providing high-quality, accredited, 100% online EFT certification. What started as a simple “online EFT certification” program has grown into a premier international training center. (And I'm so proud of it!)
Over time, as students asked for more advanced training, I created the EFT Master’s Training Program. It was the first of its kind outside Gary Craig’s original work (and a bit controversial at the time!). This program trains practitioners to work with the most complex clients, whom I call “life clients,” addressing deep, long-term, multi-layered issues that require advanced EFT training.
To me, it seemed crazy NOT to create the advanced training. Students needed it, and they were ready for it. More importantly, clients needed practitioners who had the chops to work with complex issues. And so, I made it happen.
To ensure high standards in the profession, I was a part of a team that helped establish the Association of EFT Practitioners (AEFTP), a modern accrediting agency created to provide legitimate, experience-based accreditation without the money-driven barriers of traditional organizations.
Today, AEFTP accredits EFT practitioners around the world. And while I eventually chose to leave my role on the Board, I know it is in great hands and I'm really pleased with what it has become.
In 2020, I had the honor of presenting at the Tapping World Summit, where my work on Breaking the Cycle of Chronic Financial Anxiety to Find Peace reached hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. It was a fun experience, and I'm glad I did it.
Always looking for ways to push the field forward, I created Instructional EFT (IEFT), a new branch of EFT designed to help clients with chronic illness, autoimmune conditions, autism, addiction, and other difficult-to-resolve issues. This advanced program blends EFT with other healing techniques, and it continues to evolve with my advanced students.
Today, I remain committed to training students worldwide through the Premier Online EFT Certification Program at the Center for
EFT Studies. With over 25 years of experience and thousands of students certified across the globe, my mission is to make EFT accessible, professional, and deeply transformative. My work at the Center has given my life meaning. And I'm grateful for it every day.
If you’re considering certification, I’d love to be your guide. My own journey—from anxious young woman to international EFT trainer—has taught me that with the right tools, healing is possible, and a new future is always within reach.
